Write on - John starts young!

Most nine year olds are happy to have stories read to them but that is not the case for John Buckley. John, who is from Rathcormack has just had his first book published and is already in the middle of writing his second. John got the inspiration for his book Mr Fibber Bobble - The Adventure Begins after his school, teacher in Scoil Bhride, Rathcormac laid particular emphasis on writing in class.

John's mother Siobhán said: "The class were encouraged to write in the free-writing copy in class where they were able to write whatever they wanted. They mostly wrote about that day's news but John got a bit bored with that and he wrote half a page of his book instead. When the teacher read it she spurred him on and encouraged him to finish the story. He worked on it for 10 days and the final results speak for themselves, his teacher was delighted with it!"

John's teacher then read the story to the class, who chose it over Harry Potter such was its popularity - no mean feat!  After that John asked his mother if they could publish the book.

"At the start I didn't think it would be possible, I didn't even know how we would go about it but we got a huge help from everyone in particular in Fermoy Print and we had 100 copies of the book printed two weeks ago and they have all sold-out! We have had to order more to be printed which is fantastic, the response has been great!"

Proceeds of the book are going towards Scoil Bhride who are currently looking for funds for the school and Siobhán says it is thanks to the support of local businesses in Rathcormac and Fermoy.

"I think the real moment for John came on Sunday when we went to the Teddy Bear's Picnic that was organised by the Fermoy Business Association. There was a massive interest in the book and he was signing copies and it was only because we sold out of the book that we didn't sell more!" 

John is currently finishing  the second installment and he already has planed for a third book in the Mr Fibber Bobble series as well as plans for an entirely different book.

"He has always been a perfectionist," says proud mum Siobhan, "and he really enjoyed writing it. I never envisioned him writing books at nine years old as it's not really the norm but I'm delighted for him. Like any other mother I thought the books were brilliant but it's when you see people who have no invested interest take interest, that's when it all becomes a bit surreal. We're all very proud of him!"

To purchase John's Mr Fibber Bobble book you can order through Siobhan on 086-3615023 or it can be purchased in local shops in Rathcormac such as Spar, Dooley's Post Office as well as the two book stores in Fermoy.